How do you read novels?

I have a couple of friends who, when they start a novel or trilogy or series, MUST finish. One of them had to read all of Twilight. (Sorry for those who liked the books.) He hated the way she wrote. He hated the characters. He hated the storyline. But he absolutely had to finish the entire trilogy.

I told him the same author had a new series out. He didn’t want to know about it or check the books out because if he started he’d have to finish and he really didn’t want to go through that again.

I don’t understand. If I begin a book and I don’t like it or don’t care what happens to the characters, I stop reading. I don’t care if I’m 2/3rds the way through. I just stop and find something else.

There are so many good and fun books out there. Why suffer through something I hate? I’d rather reread something I loved.

How do you read? Do you have to finish what you start or do you move on to something you like better?

Thank you what a nice thing to say.
But I’ve been on my own for awhile. I have to take care of me or I’ll fall apart.
If I may share two epiphanies.
One was when I realized I loved my friends, even with their faults. I realized they could also love me.
The other was when I realized I loved them, even when we disagreed, and they didn’t stop being my friend when I disagreed with them. I stopped being afraid of my opinions.
You have a lot going for you. Stop believing the lies in your head. Believe in the truth. You are a great person!!!!!!

I’m somewhere in the middle. I prefer to finish a book because I want to know what happens, but if it’s so bad that I hate as much about the book as your friend did, I’ll put it down. I put down one particular book about, oh say 15 years ago or so, and still have no urge to pick it up again, and that was the first of something like 4 books in the series. In that case, I put it down because, by a third of the way through, I still had little idea of what was going on and found I didn’t care either. Come to think of it, I think I purged that book from my collection with little or no remorse years ago. 🙂

One book in fifteen years. I seem to find at least one book a year. I’m easily entertained, but I’m easily bored too.
I think part of the reason I stop reading is because the book is so poorly written. It aggravates me. I wonder what the publisher and line editor were thinking. I don’t know. Sometimes I think I just too critical. But if I’m going to spend my time reading, I want my time to be well used.
Just for the record, I don’t feel like that when I read your blog. I’m looking forward to the day you’re published.

I’ve made it through some of those poorly written books. Believe me, I have definitely encountered them. But what I find is that, for a single read through, as long as the story holds me, I can make it through. Good story and good writing are not necessarily interdependent, sadly.

But keep in mind too that I’m a die-hard rereader. I have books that I’ve read to rags, and a couple where I’m on my THIRD copy because I’ve reread them so often. To me, rereading is like visiting with old friends. But I only reread stuff that I enjoyed both the story and the writing, really, so that keeps the list to reasonable proportions.